my first thai kiss...
Why hello there all you dedicated readers!
I am back, with my hand almost fully functioning. I had a pretty incredible weekend! I hope everyone is doing well. I miss you all terribly. The countdown to seeing my dad has begun. Horrah! Less than a month until he is on my side of the globe. Please continue to send me updates from the homefront everyone.
Before I begin my weekend post, I thought I should include a very unfortunate photo that shows just how much the American influence has penetrated Asian culture. When we needed to escape the confines of Thana City during the coup, Jeff, Lisa and I went to a nearby mall. Jeff needed his McDonalds. Folks, I believe I have found something more culturally painful than the McCurry... and that is good ol' Ronnie doing the Wai.
So the weekend... Bobbi, Jeff, Lisa and I headed North West of Bangkok to go visit the town of Kanchanaburi, where the river Kwai is. This was a big change for us... we actually went somewhere that didn't have a beach. This place was more of an adventure holiday. It was crazy beautiful. Plus the bus ride was the fastest thus far. G'times.
We arrived on Friday night and figured out where we were gonna sleep. We found this cute little place called Sam's House. It was reccomended by some fellow travellers that Bobbi befriended on the bus. We took a tuk tuk van to the hotel, and it literally looked like we were at some random guy's house. Once we ventured past the driveway, we realized that there was more to this place, and in fact it were quite cute riverside bungalows. However- they were to rich for our blood. So we stayed in smaller, much more rustic rooms. Lisa and Bobbi splurged on a room with AC. Jeff and I got a room with only a fan, it was CRAZY cheap. 150 baht a night, which translates to about 4 dollars Cdn, then split that two ways. It was grand!
Then, still on a high from such cheap accomodations, we wandered outside to the main road, and right across the street was an Indian restaurant. Could life be more perfect? After a fabulous meal (which cost more than my hotel room!) we walked down the road to a local bar and played a few games of pool. It was Canada (Me and Lisa) vs. US (Jeff and Bobbi). US won, but only because we sacraficed the tie breaking game.
The next morning, we decided to do one of the adventure tours. We took this amazing open backed truck about an hour outside of the city. The view was amazing. Beautiful greenery, rolling hills, these crazy rockfaces. Finally, we arrived at an elephant camp. Bobbi and I got on the first Elephant. My heart broke a little bit. I felt so sad for the elephants. But animal rights aside, it was pretty cool! The elephant took us through this little forest, and then down into the river, where we got sprayed. Oh, I dropped my camera case and the elephant picked it up for me with his trunk. We walked through this little thai village, where kids were playing, and people were going about thier daily lives as hoards of tourists rode by on thier massive elephants... it was kinda a strange scene.
We our ride was over, we were hanging out in (from here on is attempt 2... stupid internet shut down before I got to save the brilliant blog that I finished - so if it lacks enthusiasm, I'm sorry) front of the elephant place and this farang woman, who is American originally, but hadn't been home in over 36 years, came walking up with a baby elephant. It was soooo cute! Anyway, she asked us if we wanted to take pics, for a small fee of course. We jumped at the chance, and all gathered around the elephant. Now, for those of you who have been on the edge of your seats waiting for the scandalous tale that inspired my post title, here it comes. At the end of the kodak moment, the lady had the elephant give each of us a big, sloppy, dirty kiss. It was wonderfully disgusting!
Next, we were en route to the Erawan Waterfalls. They were absolutely breathtaking. I have never seen falls so beautiful. It had about 7 levels, so we kept hiking and swimming and hiking up and swimming. It was grand. When I first went to climb into the falls I felt something at my feet. And there they were hundreds of fish all biting my feet. So of course, I screamed like a little girl, and pulled my feet out of the water so fast! Then all the Thai people pointed at their feet, to show all the fish just sitting there chomping away. So I thought, in the spirit of being adventurous, I should suck it up and jump in. So that I did. And I am so glad, because once I got in, I was able to swim right under the falls, and climb up on the rocks. I just sat there and listened to the falls echoing off the walls of the cave that I was sitting in. It was marvelous. To follow, are some of pictures of the falls because my words just can't do justice to how beautiful it all was. Heck, these pictures don't do justice!
After the falls we headed back to the hotel. Bobbi and Jeff went for thier daily nap. While Lisa and I went off in search of the market that we were told was nearby. After walking around for about 2 hours, we gave up hope and went to dinner. Once Jeff and Bobbi woke up, we then went out in search of nightlife, which seemingly was non existant. We stumbled into this bar that said DANCE on the side of it, so we figured it was something. We walked in - it was practically deserted. There were one or two tables of people. On the stage were some scantily clad thai women doing really bad kareoke in Thai. Every so often someone would walk up to the stage and place a boa aound the singer. I don't really know what that was about... but we definitely left before we could find out!
The next morning, Bobbi headed back to Bangkok. Lisa and I went for another walk around the city, and Jeff slept in. This time we found a nice little market. Also, we stumbled upon a World War 2 cemetary that had Chinese, Thai and Christian gravestones. It was pretty neat to see.
Once the afternoon hit, we were on a minibus headed to the Tiger Temple. This place advertised having tame tigers that you could go play with. I was skeptical. The funds from admission supposedly paid for better homes for the tigers, so I figured even if the activity was a bust, the money was for a good cause. We arrived, as did about 1000 other people. We walked towards the Tiger Canyon. There actually were about 10 tigers that you could walk up to and pet, and take pictures with. My animal rights heart broke a bit once again. The tigers were chained up, and I'm sure not to impressed with being manhandled and photographed all day long. But - that aside. I got to pet some tigers. It was freaking cool!
That was the end of our Kanchanaburi adventures. It was a grand ol' time. Now we are half way through a pretty busy week. Still loving my kids! This weekends plans are still being formed... but I've been promised a girls night in Bangkok with my friend Emily. So that should be fun.
Sorry that this blog was crazy long... thanks to all of you who have lasted this far. Please send emails - I do love them so.... and I'm trying my best to respond in good time.
Love to all!
first "snow" day...
Hello everyone!
I'm sure most of you have heard about the political crisis in Bangkok. Thank you everyone who wrote emails of concern. I appreciate the support from the homefront. I thought I should write a really brief post to assure everyone that I am completely safe, and Bangkok living is going on as normal.
So, on Tuesday night, I'm asleep in my room, when my phone begins to ring, and ring, and ring, and ring... I finally decide to give in to the noise and pick up, when my friend Jeff tells me to turn on CNN because the Military has taken over Bangkok. So of course, I flip out. However, in wonderful Bangkok style, even attempts to throw the PM out of office is civil, calm and non-violent... you gotta love it.
Within the hour, my phone continued to ring, with word of school being cancelled due to the situation and with concerned voices from home. Meanwhile, I'm glued to the TV. After about an hour CNN gets shut down, so I was at the mercy of the BBC World News to keep me up to date, as well as the internet. Basically I had about as much information as you all did.
I live out of town, so I didn't actually witness any of the action from the heart of the city. So as I said I was completely safe the whole time.
Yesterday we were given a day off school. I just watched the news and researched online and watched movies, etc. It was a pretty chill day.
Today, I am back in school. Life is going on as normal. All my students are here today, tonight is meet the parents night. I'll keep you all posted if anything changes...
love you all, Crys
back to samet...
Hello everyone!
Sorry it's been so long, but the stiches just came out, and it hurt to type. Stiches? You may ask. Don't worry, the story is on it's way!!
So a few weekends back Jeff, Lisa and I went on an impromptu trip back to the beautiful island of Koh Samet. It was wonderful. We left following the mantra "Let's wing it!" and that seemed to work.
On Friday Jeff called the cab to pick us up from school... which of course did not show up. So we caught a ride with a co worker who took us closer to the city. Then we hopped on motorcycle taxi's to get us the rest of the way to the bus station. At this point we were sure we missed the bus, and would have to wait another hour, but luckily the 4 o clock bus was running late, and we made it within minutes.
We rode all the way to Samet, found some wonderful people on the bus to share a speed boat with, and took a speed boat all the way to the beach. The funny thing about being dropped off my speedboat is that they take you close to shore, but not quite close enough to avoid getting completely soaked. So you hop off the boat with all your bags and things, and you are thigh deep in water. It's actually a pretty funny sight.
Then, we wandered up and down the beach looking for a place to stay. We ended up making a deal with the receptionist and this one guest house and ended up getting a really cute bungalow. It was the nicest place I've stayed at in all of my thai travels and I paid about 12 dollars a night. Love it.
We then when down to a restaurant on the beach. We sat on thai triangle pillows, Lisa found her favorite Soi dog and we ate really good and cheap food. We then wandered farther down the beach to a bar. At this point we discovered that it was a full moon party. I don't really know how it's different than anyother party night they have at this bar, except for there was this pretty incredible sign that they fired up. It was cool. We also enjoyed watching the flame throwers do thier show.
Lisa, Jeff and some people we met went for a midnight swim in the ocean. I observed from afar, for fear of being attacked by jellyfish. After that we went to bed.
The next morning I went for a walk and layed on the beach and explored while I waited for my friends to wake up. Finally they did. So we decided to follow through with our plan to rent motorbikes and explore the island. Lisa had made friends with a Thai guy who worked at a bar we went to the night before, and he was gonna show her how to drive it. So, Jeff and I were going to share a bike. We got a really sketchy lesson from the guy who rented us the bike. Jeff was the first driver, and told me to hop on. I questioned him, and suggested that he practice first and then take a passenger. But no - he said he could handle it. Turns out he couldn't. I hopped on, and within seconds he had driven me right into a hill on the side of the rode. I slid off the back of the bike and gashed my hand on a rock. The guy who rented us the bike drove me to the health center to get my hand sewn up. Let me tell you, Jeff's face of disgust when the doctor pulled out the needle was not the most reassuring.
Regardless, I was fine. It hurt a bit... but doc gave me drugs. I think Jeff's ego was hurt more than my hand. So family have no fear. I'm still alive and well. The stiches came out on Sunday. Horrah!
The rest of the day we just took it easy, enjoyed the beach (but not the water, cause I couldn't get my hand wet) had some more good food, visited another bar and went to bed. On Sunday we just chilled in a hammock and on the beach and I read my book. It was nice. Then we took a ferry back to the mainland. Boating here is just a funny situation. To get into the ferry we had to climb though about 4 other ferrys. Not an easy task when you are carrying bags and can't grip with your right hand. But Lisa took care of me so I made it out all right.
We caught the next bus out of there and arrived home in good time, ready to start our next work week.
This past weekend was not so eventful. I went to a workshop on literacy and assessment. It was actually really helpful. So I'm glad I gave up a weekend. However, that leaves no stories to report.
I miss you all so much. Don't forget to write me back.
Lots and lots of love coming your way!
lost in a thai village...
Hello everybody...
Here I am with a post from last Wednesday... sorry for the delay, but what can I say? Teaching is hard ok!
Last week Lisa and I decided to head downtown after work in search of climbing gym that was listed on the worlds greatest map ever. Whoever comes to visit me will live by this map I swear... it helps even me find my way around the city... a task that most of you had no faith I could accomplish.
We began in familiar territory, the docking spot for our Chinatown adventure. Except, this time we had a much farther journey on the Klong Taxi. We ending up getting off the boat after about a half an hour ride, and ended up on this little fishing pier. When we arrived we looked into the marsh and there were thousands of massive fish, the were flopping about like mad. And we all know with fish come BIRDS! For every fish there must have been about 8 birds, dirty, scary pidgeon type birds. We were trying to figure out where to catch the little boat that would take us across the river and we had to walk along this rickity little ramp. And yes, this ramp was covered in birds. I said to myself be brave Crystal be brave, the birds have the fish to eat... they don't need your flesh. And then I closed my eyes and crossed the ramp... and you know what? I didn't even get pecked once. Although it was maybe the scariest time of my life.
Once we crossed the river we ended up in this tiny little Thai village. All of the signs that across the river would have had English script was now only Thai... we were definitely the whitest people there... it was awesome. Finally I felt like I escaped tourist town, and was actually in Thailand. Then we started walking... and walking... and walking, after a while it dawned on us that that main road we thought was just ahead, may not be. We ended up in the courtyard of this thai school, when a man came out and with the little english he knew tried to direct us to the climbing gym that he didn't know existed. (our map didn't detail this small village) So, the man drew us this really suspect map, that miraculously Lisa could decipher. We stumbled upon this abandoned Wat (temple) , we walked along this really narrow cement walkway, while being trailed by a motor cycle, we nearly got attacked by rabid dogs. It was so fun. What we saw was so cool that we didn't even care that we didn't find the climbing gym.
We realized that it was gonna get dark soon, so we better get back across the river. When all of a dudden we stumbled upon the next Klong stop on the river. We hopped back on the boat, got off at khao san road... grabbed some cheap cheap grub, and then headed back to Bang na. Overall a satisfying day of discovery.
A note to Teresa... I love love your blog. I miss miss you. I don't have your email. I want it.
The double word is what they do here in Thailand... things are cheap cheap or same same, it's really cute!
Anyway, that's it for now. Love to all.
how many farangs can you fit in a tuk tuk?
Four and two guitars...
So, as promised to many, I am here with the official weekend update. My brain is feeling highly uncreative right now... so I'm going to try to prove that a picture is truly worth a thousand words.
So this picture is taken from my first experience on the Klong, which is the dirty, dirty river that runs through the city. We hopped on the Oriental express, which is a fancy boat that carts rich tourists to thier hotel on the river... so pretending to be one of those tourist, we got a free ride to check out the Oriental Hotel. This hotel was absolutely incredible, lavish, ridiculously expensive...
From there we headed back to the Klong, and took a much less fancy river taxi to Chinatown. Now, Chinatown in Bangkok is chaos. Because Bangkok itself is crazy, busy, polluted, cramped... then mix that with the usual congestion of any Chinatown and you can only imagine what you get! It was great. I found the most amazing bead store... I was in heaven. Anita, if you need some cheap Aisian goods for your business, let me know! We had lunch at this little roadside stand. The pic shows Emily (left) and Lisa (right) enjoying the very hot soup on a very hot day. Mmmmm.
Next, we went guitar shopping. We ending up in this random location that was once called the Thieves Market... we were told by some Thai vendors that this term was very out of date. However, there were some sweet guitars that they were selling. I got a nice cheap one, so I can stop borrowing Jeff's. Emily and Daniel bought one also. Maybe we can start up a band. The pic with this paragraph is the guit that Jess would have if she were a rockstar.
Then we decided to leave Chinatown to head to Lumpini Park for dinner. We couldn't find a cab so the four of us squeezed into a tuk tuk, literally. I was sitting on the floor of the tuk tuk. Most uncomfortable and hilarious ride of my life!
Then we had dinner at this cute little restaurant, where they actually had a vegetarian section in the menu! Ya ya! It was good. Then we let Daniel go and rest, while the girls went shopping. We went to this night bizarre... which is kinda like the weekend market, but cooler - because it's night time, has nicer stuff, and is not as busy. It is just fun checking out all the Thai knick knacks, and fabrics, and jewelry... oh the jewelry.
We ended the evening at a little street side bar called Cheap Charlies... it was all Farangs and the beer was crazy cheap. Lisa and I then caught a cab back home to Thana City. What a wonderful Saturday. Sunday was not quite as eventful... a little swimming, a little grocery shopping, a lot of guitaring. Life is good. And now - it's hard to believe I am at the end of another work week! Time flies. I actually had a pretty active night life this week, which I will report on in my next blog.
This weekend, Jeff, Lisa and I are heading back to Koh Samet, for a brief break from city living. We are doing it for the first time on our own, without Bobbi, our trusty tour guide (a teacher who was here last year... an insane Floridian... she's crazy but we love her!) Hopefully, we will have a nice, sunny and Jellyfish free weekend at the beach.
Sidebar from the homefront. Three cheers for my Mommy. Today is her LAST day of Chemo. Horrah! Her incredible strength has been such an inspiration to me. She keeps me proud, and focused and adventurous. What a wonderful woman... I'm so lucky to be a product of her support and love. Congratulations Mom, even though I'm a few continents away - you are right beside me always.
I'll be back after a weekend of sunning!
Miss you. Love to all.
A taste of Thai culture...
Hi Everyone,
I'm just getting ready to go out for the weekend. I thought I would do a quick post to talk about my first authentic Thai cultural experience. My students take a course called Thai Culture. One thing that Thais do it a "Wai Kiu" ceremony, where the students take the time to honour thier teacher. (That's me!) So I sat down in a chair, and my students one by one came up to me and said something nice to me, wai'd me (as seen in pic) and then presented me with flowers. It was really beautiful. The red flowers that I am holding in the pic have these sharp points on them, which is meant to be symbolic for wisdom. This is why they are presented to the teacher. It was really nice to get to participate in that ceremony with my students. And look at them - aren't they cute?
Also, just so everyone knows - I have changed the settings on my blog - so anyone can leave a comment now. But bear in mind that they can be seen by everyone, and emails are still awesome. Keep telling me about your lives.
Love you all.
